A Warrior's Heart, Epilogue

Story by BlindTiger on SoFurry

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#28 of Heart's Bond Book 2 - A Warrior's Heart

Celebration and joining in this bonus chapter for SoFurry readers.


Strong Soul looked out the window of her quarters, the giant form of Mss'ranaw blocking all but the very edges of the viewport. Beyond, though, and through the various connections, struts and other makeshift superstructure, she could see the stars, hanging as they always had in, far beyond what anyone alive could travel. Were they still burning? she wondered. Perhaps they had died out thousands of years ago, but they would never know. In fact, none would ever notice one simply winking out of existence one day. Was it like that with her? Was it like that with the Mrr'tani? Would anyone a thousand generations from now ever remember anything she'd done?

A stirring behind her brought her attention back to the here and now and she smiled as Night Star's curiosity washed over her, his mind seeking hers as he rolled over in the bed to look at her. The amusement was clear when he found her thoughts drifting into the stars.

"Thinking deep thoughts, Keeper?" he asked quietly, the smile clear in his voice.

"Wishing deep wishes, Bringer," she replied with a chuckle, purposely using his new name. "Wishes that will never come true."

"Keep wishing them, love," he said, sitting up and sliding his legs out from beneath the sheets. She heard his feet touch the floor and heard the bed creak when he stood. As she listened to his footsteps coming closer, she stood up a little straighter, her shoulders already itching for the touch of his hands. "Perhaps some day, when you least expect, they will come true."

"That day is a long way off," she said simply as his hands touched her shoulders, right where she knew they would.

"You're awfully dark for such a good day," Night Star chided, rubbing her shoulders lightly with his strong paws, and yet again, Strong Soul was reminded of how much larger the Mrr'tanou was than she. "Can't you feel them?"

She knew exactly who she was talking about. The elation had driven the links to a chorus of joy when they'd emerged from hyper and the newly liberated Mrr'tani had seen the fleet for the first time. She thought she'd nearly burst from joy. They'd tripled the number of Mrr'tani they'd set out with, and the new strength of the Mrr'ouwffi was something she was still learning to live with. It hadn't ebbed, either, when they'd docked and the Mrr'tani had found their first free footsteps on a place they could call home.

Even now, it was still a crescendo in her mind, singing out for joy and happiness, though it was more easily managed the more that she was exposed to it. It was like a sound, so very loud and present at first, but as it continued, it became quieter, fading into the background. Eventually, she knew that it would fade completely, and she would only be aware of it by its absence. But right now it was hot and close in her mind.

"A human could feel them," she said with a chuckle. "And probably smell them, too."

Night Star joined her chuckle and nodded. "Ahh, but you can't say that any more as you once did. Don't you feel Bridge Walker in there, too? He's just as happy."

"I'm trying not to, love," she replied. "I don't know what his mate sees in him, I don't know that I could get used to not having fur to curl up in."

"Everyone has their preference," Night Star said, still smiling, his ever-present relaxed tone even clearer. She knew his thoughts on the matter and she wrapped herself in that calm.

"Speaking of preference," she said, tearing her eyes from the stars in the distance to pull away from the window. She had her own Night Star standing here in the room with her, and there was no reason to dwell on what could be, and what might come to pass so long after she was gone. Night Star was right, this wasn't a night to be consumed by guilt or by fear. It was a night of celebration. More Mrr'tani than ever before were free and allowed to celebrate as they chose, and it wouldn't be right if she didn't join them.

Night Star let his hands relax on her shoulders and slide across her fur as she turned, slipping down her back as she stepped in, looking down at her with his eyes that she always felt she could be lost in. She lay her chin on his chest and let out a sigh of happiness, her body surrounded by his strong arms and his warm fur, even with the cloth between the two of them. It was like she belonged in the space his arms carved out around her, her body fitting just perfectly against his.

"I never knew what we could be, love," Night Star said in his quiet, husky voice, "until I felt it through you. You're more than I ever expected when Marcus called me the first time."

"You just thought you were picking up some girl who needed looking after, didn't you?" she asked with a chuckle.

"Well yeah, but you knew that already. I never tell you just how much you amaze me every time I watch you. You were so scared and so unsure when you stepped through that hatch for the first time. I don't think I ever would have believed that we'd be here if someone had told me back then."

"It's not just me, love," she replied, wrapping her arms around his hips to pull him close. There was so much about him right in this moment that called to her. The solidity of his body against hers, the scent of his fur, familiar and warm, the look of his eyes and the way that he stood over her, and the feeling of a familiar firmness against her belly. She smiled at the feeling and gently pressed him backwards, away from the window and to the bed. "I'd be in some Alliance cage or on a table somewhere if it wasn't for you."

"We make a good team," he said, grinning as he took her hint, moving backwards with her, slowly and surely towards the bed, until his legs touched. With a quick draw of his hands, he pulled her tunic up and over her head, tossing it to the side. Some of the Mrr'tani had taken to wearing more human garments, but she still preferred the simple, hand-made clothing that she'd always worn since her time in her cottage. She still had the gifts from Avalon and she wore them on occasion, but tonight seemed like a night for tradition.

Night Star's clothing was just as easy to shed, just a few snaps that held it together in the front and it easily slid from his shoulders, baring his chest and the fur beneath for her to nuzzle the side of her face against. The fur there was always so soft, a stark contrast to what lay beneath. He wasn't one that took his body lightly, and their lives were not easy by any stretch. His body had adapted quite well to the life, though, and she found that she never tired of touching it. She let her paws wander as they wanted all over the stretch of his chest and belly, moving down until she could undo the clasp on his trousers.

"It's getting to you, isn't it?" he asked, head cocked to the side in curiosity. She nodded as she pushed his trousers free of the firmness she'd felt earlier, letting them fall to the floor before she stepped back up against him, trapping it between her belly and his.

"Yes," she said, her voice heavy with heat, "I've never felt something like this before."

"Do you want me to block it?"

She shook her head and growled. "No. I need this. We...we need this."

Night Star cocked his head a little further and then smiled, the meaning of her words clear when she let even more of her control slip. Little by little, their minds grew closer and she began to relax the walls between them, then she started to let the walls between them and the other Mrr'tani slip as well, and the heat that she'd felt from the rest of them began to flow across and into them. She knew that he could share it with her when she felt his body react to it, the firmness trapped against her belly swelling all the more and throbbing in readiness. For her own part, she knew she was more than ready. She'd been bathing in the lusts of the others on the fleet for nearly an hour, the feeling only growing as more and more of them shared in it, spurred on by their clanmates.

One by one, the Mrr'ouwffi with her Frr'a'narr'ahn opened, and she could see through their eyes, each of them with the lover of their choice, sharing in the pleasure and the lust that flowed through them all. And that the head of it, at the very apex, feeling every nuance and every shift of the power, she stood with Night Star, her mate, her lover, the other part of herself.

"Lie down," she said, the only two words that she could say, for there was little left that needed to be spoken aloud. Each of them knew the other, knew their feelings, knew their intentions, and they both knew what they needed. The energy was only building, and there was only one way to channel it that wouldn't cause injury to either them or their bonds.

Night Star pulled himself up on the bed and Strong Soul took the moment that he was away from her front to slide her own trousers off and to the floor, climbing onto the bed dressed as Night Star with only her fur to cover anything. It was what they both wanted, what they both craved, to see and feel every last bit of each other, and she indulged as she could, crawling up his body, her own body moving with the lithe grace of the huntress, her eyes locked with hers. Slowly, she spread her legs to straddle his hips and guided him gently into her. Together they gasped in unison as she lowered her hips and he sank fully into her, her body craving every bit of him, ready and willing to devour him as fully as she could.

There was no longer a sense of their quarters. There was no sense of anything but the connection with the other Mrr'tani. She could feel every Frr'a'narr'ah, some taking lovers as she was, others preferring a female, but not a one without one with whom to share the moment. Already the pleasure was nearly unbearable, feeling it through a thousand bodies, some quieter and some stronger, but all, without fail, filled with the energy and the heat. Every free Mrr'tani on the fleet moved in unison, enjoying their newfound freedom, their ability to do what they wished with their own bodies, finally free to partake of the Mrr'ouwffi and the shared energy of their kind.

It built as she rocked against Night Star, withdrawing and then plunging inside again. She was herself and him at the same time, and he was the same. One mind, two bodies, melded as they had been before, but this was so very different. This was more than mating, more than a simple joining. She could consume him, and he could do the same to her. Together, they could draw everything from the Mrr'tani, take all that was given and use it to...what?

The question was fresh in her mind, but just as soon as it was formed, she knew the answer. As the pleasure climbed higher and higher and the power built and swelled, she focused her mind on the very dimmest links, the ones that were barely touched, but never fully formed. The power filled her mind and the pleasure filled her body, and as she and Night Star reached their climax together, she forced the power out along every last pinpoint in her mind, sharing it with every last Mrr'tani she had ever touched or even merely been near. Her ecstatic cry of sheer pleasure sounded full enough to be carried beyond their quarters, though there was none to hear it. The touch of her mind, though, was something different.

On a thousand worlds, she felt them. Every one drawn by her call, stopping in what they were doing to bask in the pleasure of the Mrr'ouwffi. Some radiated the terror of collaborators, but most were curious, and some ecstatic. She had no time for a complicated message, but the touch of her mind was plain. As the pleasure fell away and the power waned, there was one clear statement sent as she fell against Night Star's chest, full of him as he was of her.

"The Keeper of Hearts has awakened. She is coming."